premiered and recorded by Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Hilary Hahn and the Emerson String Quartet, among others. Collaborations are a central part of Mr. Meyer’s work. He has been, and remains, a member of numerous groups, whose members include Chris Thile, Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Mark O’Connor, Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Mike Marshall and Amy Dorfman, among others. His debut album in 1985 featured the first public appearance of Strength in Numbers, whose members were Bush, Douglas, Fleck, O’Connor and Mr. Meyer. Mr. Meyer began studying bass at the age of 5 under the instruction of his father and continued further to study with Stuart Sankey. In 1994, he received the Avery Fisher Career Grant and in 2000 became the only bassist to receive the Avery Fisher Prize. Currently, he teaches bass in partnership with Hal Robinson at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. Punch Brothers released their latest album, The Phosphorescent Blues, in January 2015 and a follow up EP, The Wireless, in November of the same year. Most recently, Mr. Thile released a double album with Brad Mehldau titled Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau (January 2017). Beginning in fall of 2016, Mr. Thile took the helm of A Prairie Home Companion, a public radio favorite since 1974. Garrison Keillor, the show’s creator and host announced: “He is, I think, the great bluegrass performer of our time and he is a beautiful jazz player. There just isn’t anything he can’t do – and he is very enthusiastic about live radio.” Funded in part by the Community Events & Festivals Program using funds provided by the City of Santa Barbara in partnership with the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture
Special thanks to
For more on Edgar Meyer and to view his updated calendar of events, visit www.edgarmeyer.com
Chris Thile, mandolin Multiple Grammy Award-winner and MacArthur Fellow Chris Thile, a member of Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek, and now the host of A Prairie Home Companion, is a mandolin virtuoso, composer and vocalist. With his broad outlook that encompasses classical, rock, jazz and bluegrass, Mr. Thile transcends the borders of conventionally circumscribed genres, creating a distinctly American canon and a new musical aesthetic for performers and audiences alike. A child prodigy, Mr. Thile first rose to fame as a member of Grammy Award-winning trio Nickel Creek, with whom he released three albums and sold more than two million records. In 2014, along with a national tour, the trio released a new album, A Dotted Line, their first since 2005. As a soloist, Mr. Thile has released five albums including his most recent, Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol.1, which was produced by renowned bassist Edgar Meyer. In February 2013, Mr. Thile won a Grammy Award for his work on The Goat Rodeo Sessions, collaborating with Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Stuart Duncan. In September 2014, Mr. Thile and Meyer released their latest album collaboration, Bass & Mandolin, which won the Grammy
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